If you have ever gone Christmas shopping with your kids, or just normal grocery shopping, you will easily agree that it can be a most trying challenge, testing the boundaries of your sanity and many times the sanity of your fellow shoppers.

The most common scenario is when your kid drops to the ground screaming, just because you refuse to get another brand of cereal or ice creams.  All nearby shoppers are instantly froze, all staring at you to determine what your decisive super parent skill is to calm this bundle of horror down.  Many probably wishing you would just leave the shopping area, and you wishing you could hide in a box of Mac ‘n Cheese.

Now, imagine going shopping with three kids!  AND shopping for a house.

Well, that’s exactly what we did recently.

Like so many families, we want to make sure our kids participate in major family changing events, and choosing your future family homestead certainly qualifies for such an event.  So, we found a few tempting places on Trulia and Zillow, engaged a realtor and planned to meet the following weekend.

Trulia and Zillow are excellent property search engines

We had to inspect six potential houses that warm summer afternoon, and packed the car with snacks and plenty to drink, and set off on yet another family adventure in the trusty old family tank.

I had carefully planned the route with the realtor, preventing a zig zag tour de New York experience, as that would be absolutely killer on the kids’ mood.  The last thing we need in a confined space is a revolution.

We pulled in at the first house, and the kids were in shock – positive shock.  They thought it was absolutely stunning and immediately jumped out of the truck to explore (in their opinion) the new stomping ground.  They ran up/down the stairs.  I could hear voices in the attic and the basement.  Then suddenly all three kids had to use the bathroom.  All while the realtor stood silently with an awkward smile and not too what she had witnessed.

My wife and I had very little time to explore the houses as we were too busy running after the kids, making sure they didn’t jump into the pool, started to play with the house owner’s pet or picked up toys.

On to house two – a beautiful house that the kids fell in love with.  And, same strange wild behaviour from the kids; running around like if possessed, and insisting on using the bathroom.  We hadn’t even driven for more than 10 minutes, and no beverages, so how could their tiny bladder be full already?

Toilet Stories; shitter and in the wild

On to house three.  Again, this was the new dream house according to the gang of three.  They ran riots in the garden.  Up/down the stairs.  Suddenly I heard voices from the hallway closet, only to discover the two youngest laughing as I opened the closet.  They had been playing in the darkness.  And, the mandatory toilet visit.

House four and five were pretty much the same as the previous three houses, expect house five had no running water, so couldn’t visit the toilet.  I fully appreciate that a working toilet is essential for any household, but there’s no need to test every single toilet until we actually move in.

House six was a wash out – none of really liked it, so we didn’t even bother testing the toilet.  That said, the garden was phenomenal; massive potential for a personal maze, with  wilderness trails we could practice our survival skills.  Plenty to offer for the outdoor family and even more for the adventurous DIY dude … not us then!

All in all we saw six houses, but I have still very little recollection of what each house looked at, and have to visit Trulia or Zillow to see pictures.  Perhaps bringing the kids weren’t the best of ideas.  We do love exploring with the kids, but this is one of those adventures were kids might just make you buy something, just because it had an awesome pee experience.

The poor realtor never knew what actually happened.  She was completely bewildered as we left her standing at the last house, probably looking for a bottle of Jack D while downing a few Prozac’s and crying softly and yet anxiously.  Funnily enough, she hasn’t returned my calls or emails!

It’s safe to say that we’ll inspect the next future family homestead without kids 🙂